Perceived stress is related to health-related quality of life in patients with chronic rhinosinuitis

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common disorder with a significant impact on health-related quality of life (HRQL). Due to symptoms based diagnosis, disease severity is usually estimated using questionnaires which evaluate subjective scores on severity of symptoms and deterioration of HRQL, like Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 Questionnaire (SNOT-22). Objective severity staging is rather based on computerized tomography (CT) scores than on severity of inflammation. There is recent evidence that perceived stress has significant impact on asthma incidence and hospitalization, as well as on allergic rhinitis. As CRS is comorbidity of asthma and allergic rhinitis, we hypothesized that perceived stress may have impact on severity of CRS. The aim of the study is to correlate objective and subjective outcome measures with perceived stress.